Systematic review search strategies are poorly reported and not reproducible: a cross-sectional meta-research study

Ref ID 936
First Author M. L. Rethlefsen
Journal JOURNAL OF CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
Year Of Publishing 2023
URL https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0895435623003190?via%3Dihub
Keywords • Non-Cochrane reviews
• Searching
• General medical
• Open data
Problem(s) • Methods not described to enable replication
• Insufficient literature searches
Number of systematic reviews included 100
Summary of Findings From a random sample of 100 biomedical systematic reviews indexed in MEDLINE in November 2021, the reproducibility of search strategies (PRISMA-S). The included 100 systematic reviews contained 453 database searches. Of those, complete database information, including naming the database and platform (PRISMA-S item 1), was available for 47.2% (214/453) (Table 1). Only 4.9% (22/453) database searches clearly reported all six PRISMA-S items. Least commonly reported were item 9, limits and restrictions, and item 13, dates of searches. Limits and restrictions were fully reported for 22.1% (100/453) of database searches, and the exact date of the search was provided for 22.7% (103/453) database searches.
Did the article find that the problem(s) led to qualitative changes in interpretation of the results? N/A
Are the methods of the article described in enough detail to replicate the study? Yes